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Friday, May 31, 2013

Memoirs From the End of the World: Entry #38

Those of you who have not read previous installments of this serialized story can find it all on this PAGE.

Memoirs From the End of the World

Entry #38

The next couple of months passed largely
without incident. The rebels had to
uproot twice within that time, moving their base of operations to keep any
patrols, robotic or organic, from figuring out where they were hiding. The snow disappeared, then reappeared a
couple more times before melting away for the last time of the season.

The largest indicator of the passage of
time, however, came from RC’s body. A
distinctive bump began to appear on her slender frame, and she knew her clothes
would no longer be able to hide it. The
time for full disclosure had come.

RC lay awake long into the night,
struggling to work out what to say.
Would there be questions about who the father was? Beneath the thin blanket, she rested her hand
on her growing stomach. Alyx’s hand
rested next to hers as they lay shoulder to shoulder in the dark. He didn’t fill the silence with platitudes,
but he didn’t have to. Just having him
there next to her in quiet solidarity steadied her.

As it turned out, RC’s worries were
unjustified. When she approached Brock
and Becca the following morning, Alyx and Harrison were with her. Alyx held her hand while she spit out the
only words that would come out of her mouth.
“I’m pregnant.”

Brock looked calmly at Harrison. “Have you confirmed this?”

Harrison nodded. “Yes sir.”

Brock glanced back at RC and
shrugged. “All right. We’ll take care of you and figure things out
as we go.” Then he looked at Becca. “We need to get going if we’re going to have
those mines set up in time.”

That was it. No overt concern. No talk about handing her over to the
overlords. No awkward questions.

That is, there were no awkward questions
until the rebels returned later that night with Ollie in tow. He headed immediately over to confront RC and
Alyx. Crouching down beside them, he
didn’t waste any time with small talk. “Why
didn’t you guys tell me? I had to find
out from William.”

“So, whose baby is it? Since it’s obviously not yours,” Ollie said
with a quick nod to Alyx.

“Obviously not,” Alyx replied, his volume
rising in sync with his level of irritation.

Ollie sighed. “I’m sorry, Alyx. I didn’t mean to insult you, but it’s a valid
question. I’m not hinting at anything
but the simple medical reality that you can’t have kids.”

Which
is one of the facts you used to justify getting romantic with him in the first
place, she reminded
herself. Still, she could have hardly expected
everything to work out the way that she planned. And ignoring Ollie’s question would do nothing
to change that. “It happened when Alyx
and I were captured. Let’s just say that
the person who did this to me didn’t ask my permission.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alyx
turn away, and she assumed he did so to choke back the anger that still flared
up from time to time.

Ollie seemed to deflate a little. He leaned back and bit his lower lip. “To be honest, I should have known by looking
at you when we got you out of there. I
guess I just ignored the obvious.”

The conversation dwindled after that,
though plenty remained to be said. As RC
once again dove into the safe embrace of Romero’s pages, she overheard Ollie whispering
to Alyx. “What are you going to do about
all this? This doesn’t have to be your
responsibility, you know.”

“It may not have to be, but it is,” Alyx
replied firmly. “I’m going to stand by
her through this, and that’s final.” He paused. “Remember talking about leaving the
city? How we wanted to find the group
that Sheera and Peter came from?”

“Yes.
I remember.”

“Rose and I have been thinking that would
be the best option. She doesn’t want to
have a baby here for obvious reasons.”

Ollie exhaled slowly. “That makes sense. Look, I can help you guys get there, but I
won’t be leaving with you. I like it
here, and I feel like I’m fighting for something important. You looked after me for long enough. It’s time for me to stand on my own.”

“You’re sure about staying with her, aren’t
you?” Ollie replied. That single
question stopped any further inquiries.

“I’ll miss you.”

Ollie laughed nervously. It must have been a tad too much emotion for
him to process. “I’ll miss you too.”

Over the next few days, plans fell into
place. Brock seemed to have no problem
with the departure plans, most likely because that would end his responsibility
toward RC before anything became too complicated.

Sheera and Peter seemed anxious to
accompany them, and understandably so.
That would complicate matters slightly, but it hardly seemed right to
deny them the ability to find something of their old lives again.

In the end, they decided to have Ollie
and a few more rebel soldiers escort the four of them out of the city. The plans were carefully drawn up over the
course of a couple of weeks. Soon the
night before their departure arrived, and nerves mounted as they all considered
the things that could go wrong.

RC could only hope their plans would
unfold the way they’d anticipated. Not
that they ever really had.